Saica Pack Warehouse Expansion Approved Despite Local Opposition

Plans to expand a Saica Pack warehouse facility in the countryside near Thrapston have been approved despite objections from local campaigners and concerns over what opponents described as an “unstoppable tsunami of warehouse developments”.

Reform-led North Northamptonshire Council granted permission for the corrugated packaging producer to build a 14,000 sq m storage facility next to its existing warehouse. The new building will be linked to the existing facility by an underground tunnel.

Saica Pack said the expansion would allow it to consolidate finished goods storage at the site, removing the need to transport products to other locations in Corby and Sywell.

Allan Foakes, regional director at Saica Pack, told the planning committee that bringing warehouse operations “under one roof” would improve efficiency and significantly reduce vehicle movements. The Spanish company began operating in Thrapston in 1996 and intends to remain and grow in the area, he said.

The application received 40 objections from members of the public. Local campaign group Staunch opposed the development, noting that the site is next to two much larger proposed logistics parks.

“The whole site is bigger than Thrapston itself,” a Staunch spokesperson said of the three proposed developments. The group argued that major warehouse growth should instead be directed towards designated growth towns such as Rushden and Corby.

Independent Thrapston councillor Joseph Garner also raised concerns that the development, alongside neighbouring proposals, formed part of an “unstoppable tsunami of warehouse developments”.

The site is near Titchmarsh Nature Reserve, a wetland of international significance. Staunch challenged the council's Habitat Regulation Assessment and requested that the application be deferred, warning that it could pursue a judicial review in the High Court.